A Good Place

Chapter Four

As Tim and Guy pulled their vehicle to a stop in front of the garage, the three of us were
waiting for them. From the moment they laid eyes on me and recognised me I knew instantly how I
would be received by the pair of them.

Tim’s frown said most of what I needed to know, while Guy’s smile said the
rest.

‘Here goes nothing,’ I whispered to Luke as I brushed past him and headed for
the drivers side door from which Tim was now emerging. I figured it would be best to get the
more daunting of the two greetings out of the way first.

Just like both Luke and Matt, these guys had changed as well, filling out in their bodies
and now looking more like men, not the boys I had first gotten to know. I guess we were all
changing from the kids we had been not so long ago, into the grown-ups we were destined to be.
And in another ten years we will, no doubt, have changed yet again.

‘G’day Tim,’ I said as I thrust out my hand toward him. ‘It’s
good to see you again.’

‘Tony,’ he said rather curtly. ‘It’s been a while.’

‘Too long, mate. Far too long,’ I replied.

By this time Guy had come around to our side of the vehicle. He was all smiles as he took my
offered hand, then pulled me into a hug.

‘Damn, boy. Where the hell have you been?’ he demanded.

‘Oh, around,’ I replied.

I pretended not to hear Tim’s comment of, ‘I’ll bet,’ which only
earned him a thump in the shoulder from Guy.

‘Well, it has been far too long, but it’s great to see you again,’ Guy
added. ‘Now why didn’t you let us know you were coming, and how long are you
staying for? Have these guys told you our news?’

‘About the house? Yes, that’s fantastic news, and, as a matter of fact
it’s kind of why I came back, even if I did only find out about it today,’ I
said.

‘What?’ Tim asked, sounding slightly confused.

‘Well, Luke told me a while back that it has been almost ten years since you moved in
here … actually he said that there was going to be some sort of celebration to mark the
occasion, but when I got here he said nothing had been planned.’

‘That’s bloody typical,’ Guy laughed.

‘I told him I didn’t want the trip to be wasted then, so, what do you guys say
to a slap-up party next weekend? It can be part anniversary and part house-warming do, for the
new landlords?’

Tim and Guy looked at each other, and while Guy was grinning I was finding it difficult to
read Tim’s expression.

‘It’s all his idea, honest,’ Luke added. ‘And we think it’s a
great idea, as it’s the long weekend anyhow.’

‘Well, it’s fine by me,’ Guy said. ‘We should ring Ben and Sam and
see if they can come down too!’

‘The more the merrier, I say,’ added Matt.

That only left Tim to respond, which he did by rolling his eyes and saying, ‘Fine,
whatever!’

‘I’m not really sure just yet. I have a book thing to do this week, then now
there’s the party, but after that things are pretty much open ended. And before either of
you ask … no, I haven’t seen Aaron yet, but I have every intention of tracking him
down and setting things right with him.’

‘Bit late for that, don’t you think?’ Tim snapped.

‘Tim!’ Guy scolded. ‘Play nice!’

‘No, it’s okay Guy. I probably deserve everything I get, and I suspect
I’ll cop more than that by the time I shoot through. I’m not here to upset anyone,
and if that happens I’ll just pack up and leave. I can’t apologise enough for what
happened with Aaron. I was a fool, and everyone knows it. I cared … no, I still care, a
great deal about him, and given the chance I intend to prove that, even if he doesn’t
ever want to speak to me again.’

‘Good luck with that, then,’ Tim announced, before abruptly turning on his heels
and heading for the house, leaving the rest of us standing there in silence and with our mouths
wide open.

‘I wouldn’t take any notice of him,’ Guy said, while stepping forward and
offering me a hug. ‘We all know what happened between you and Aaron. What happened after
you left …’

‘Ummm …’ Luke stated to say, cutting Guy off before the realisation
dawned on him that I hadn’t been told the full story yet.

‘Oh, shit. He doesn’t know it all?’ Guy asked Luke.

‘No, not yet,’ Luke replied.

I looked from one to the other and said, ‘Guys, will someone please fucking tell me
what’s going on here? From the time I got here this afternoon all you guys have been
doing is pussy-footing around the issue like a bunch of old women.’

‘All right,’ Guy answered. ‘Come and sit down and we’ll fill you in.
I think it’s best you know what he’s been through before you see him, lest you
might put your foot in it by saying something you shouldn’t.’

As I followed Luke and Guy over to the outdoor tables and seats, Matt headed inside,
muttering something about lighting the barbeque and starting dinner. The guys sat me down and
just looked at me from across the table.

‘Okay lads, you’ve got me where you want me, now spill!’ I demanded.

It was Luke who began.

‘Mate, after you left Aaron actually seemed okay,’ he said. ‘I mean, he
was down in the dumps and he was upset, of course, which we had all pretty much expected, but
for the first week or so he seemed to be managing all right.’

‘Yeah,’ Guy continued. ‘We were all surprised at just how well he seemed
to be doing, but it wasn’t long after that when things seemed to start to go
downhill.’

‘What happened?’ I asked.

‘He started drinking,’ Guy said. ‘At first we just thought, yeah, it was
fair enough, given the circumstances. We gave him some space, but kept an eye on him, but then,
after that things started getting worse and worse. When we tried talking to him we soon found
out that there was more to it than just his having had you leave.’

‘Which was?’ I asked.

Luke and Guy exchanged glances, forewarning me of something ominous.

‘You remember his folks, don’t you?’ Luke asked, somewhat cautiously.

‘Jesus, how could I forget them?’ I replied. ‘Did they have something to
do with it?’

I remembered Aaron’s parents all too well. I know that hate is a strong word, but from
what I recall that was close to how Aaron felt about them.

I lost count of the number of times I saw them drunk, or saw them at the local club putting
their rent or food money through the poker machines. I remember all too well the number of time
Aaron and his kid brother went hungry, and the times I had to hold him, and comfort him, when
emotions would get the better of him.

It was little wonder that he was embarrassed to take me to the place that was supposed to
have been his home, so if they’d also had something to do with his going off the rails, then
I wouldn’t have been surprised in the slightest.

‘It seems,’ Luke began, ‘that at about the same time you left, they
cleared out as well. They just packed up and went, without so much as even a goodbye to
Aaron.’

‘What? You can’t be serious?’ I asked.

‘We’re absolutely serious,’ Guy said. ‘We all know that he
didn’t get on all that well with them anyhow, and to be honest we all know that he rarely
even went there to see them, as you would know from when you were still here
…’

‘But one day after you had been gone for a couple of weeks,’ Luke continued,
‘Aaron apparently decided to pay them a visit. When he went there he found someone else
had just moved into the house. His folks were gone, his brother was gone, all his belongings
had been packed up and were gone too.’

‘He forbade it. He said you were gone and that he didn’t want you to feel sorry
for him and come back. That would have meant that you wouldn’t have been able to follow
your dreams. Despite what he was going through, he didn’t want that on his conscience
either,’ Guy answered.

‘What a crock of shit!’ I spat.

‘It’s true,’ Luke said. ‘He said if you came back he would know we
told you, and if that happened he wouldn’t speak to us again.’

Getting to my feet I started pacing around, unable to quite comprehend what Aaron must have
been going through, with first his boyfriend, and then his parents, all deserting him at
roughly the same time. No wonder people like Tim were pissed with me.

Doing some quick arithmetic in my head I worked out that I was about twenty-one years old
when I had left, which would have made Aaron only been about twenty. Sure, there are plenty of
twenty-year olds out there who can fend for themselves, but they wouldn’t be like Aaron.
I knew him better than almost anyone, I thought, and I also knew that while he had handled some
of the earlier issues he had faced with a surprising maturity, deep down he was, or had been, a
different person; one who was far more insecure than he usually showed on the outside.

‘So, where was he staying when all this was happening?’ I suddenly asked.
‘I mean, between when I left and when he found his folks gone? Surely he must have gone
back there to sleep, or change clothes or whatever … although I know he did still have
some of his things here, didn’t he?’

Luke and Guy glanced at each other.

‘For part of it we’re not sure,’ Luke answered. ‘Yes, he had stuff
here and he came here quite a few times. We told him he would always be welcome. We know he
went to Scott’s quite a few times as well, but for the rest of the time he just said he
stayed wherever.’

‘And you said he was drinking?’

‘Yeah, he hit the bottle quite a bit, apparently,’ Guy said.

‘Justin found him passed out on the beach a couple of times when he went for his
morning surf …’ Luke added.

‘So he was sleeping on the beach?’

‘Maybe.’

‘And you still couldn’t tell me? Not then … or in the five years since?
This is just un-be-fucking-lievable!’

‘We know, mate,’ Guy said. ‘You can’t say anything to us that we
haven’t said to ourselves a million times over. But once he started to get himself sorted
out, I guess we figured all was well that ended well.’

‘Justin really needs to take all of the credit,’ Luke added, ‘seeing as he
had already been there himself.’

I knew Justin’s own story, as he had had his own issues when growing up, and had to concur
that that was the best way to go.

‘We all agreed, though,’ Luke continued, ‘that it wouldn’t serve any real
purpose to be continually talking about it, to Aaron, or anyone else for that matter; and that
includes you. Aaron needed a chance to get things straight in his own head without the rest of
us sticking our two-bobs worth in, as that wasn’t going to help him any, but we were all
still there, though, to help him out should he ever need it.’

For a long while I just stood there staring at them, while inside my head there were
thoughts flying around at speeds that were almost incomprehensible.

I was seriously pissed, but I knew that in some ways they were right, of course.

If I had returned it would have meant giving up on my own dreams, and if I had stayed and
missed out on the opportunities I did received, then chances were that in the end I would have
resented him for that.

On the other hand, if I’d have known what was going on I would have gladly returned to
do whatever I could for him, because deep down I loved the guy, and even now I know that the
embers of those feelings are still smoldering away inside me, just waiting to be fanned into
life.

‘Tony, say something please,’ Luke pleaded, which seemed to snap me back from
whatever dark place I was in.

‘What? Oh, sorry guys. I … I think you were right of course,’ I said.

‘We were?’ Guy asked.

‘Yeah,’ I said, as I sat back down. ‘Look, Aaron needed to know that he
could trust someone, so by not telling me you guys proved to him that you could be trusted. My
knowing probably wouldn’t have made any difference … in fact, it more than likely
would have just given him something else to be angry about.’

‘You’re probably right there,’ Guy said quietly.

‘The important thing though, is that he had people around him who cared about him and
that he managed to work though his issues. I’m just grateful that he eventually got
through it all okay.’

‘Yeah, mate. So were we,’ Luke replied.

* * *

While we had all been talking Matt had lit the new gas barbeque and as it was
heating up he started to bring out all that was needed for our meal, with Tim also helping him,
while casting curious glances in our direction as he did so.

I could see that Tim still didn’t exactly appear to be happy to see me, which was of
course totally understandable given the circumstances, so I knew I would have my work cut out
for me in trying to get back on side with him. All I could do was try, I figured, then the rest
would be up to him.

While Matt and Luke fussed about with dinner I retrieved my carry-all, which I’d left
sitting near the steps to the deck at the rear of the house, then took it into the Guest House,
dropping it onto the double bed in the bedroom furthest from the house, seeing as, I figured,
it would be the one to receive the first of the early morning light.

It had been a long day, since having to catch my flight in Brisbane this morning, and I was
starting to grow tired. I guess it hadn’t been helped by the revelations and goings on of
the last hour or so, after everyone had arrived home, but I had to admit that I was already
looking forward to being able to crash after dinner. I suspected, however, that Matt and Luke,
and possibly Guy, would want to stay up chatting and drinking until all hours. I just hoped
that they would understand when I excused myself early.